Flesh Collectors (28 page)

Livingston lying on a white sheet after being extracted from his makeshift grave.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

The lower portion of Livingston’s body.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

After Jennifer Robinson was found, investigators took scrapings from her fingernails to look for evidence.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

The ruler measures Livingston’s grave, about two feet deep.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

The house in the Lawrence compound where Jan’s brother was accidentally shot.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

Evidence photo of Lawrence’s dresser.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

Page of a book on the human body found in Lawrence’s home.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

Jennifer Robinson’s calf muscle was found in Lawrence’s freezer.

Courtesy of Florida State Attorney’s Office

Prosecutor John Molchan at his desk in the State Attorney’s Office in Milton, Florida.

Courtesy of P. Collier

Justin’s family created this card display for the 21st birthday he didn’t get to celebrate.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Livingston

Justin’s grave at Strickland Cemetery.

Courtesy of Elizabeth Livingston

Author’s Note

In over a decade of writing true crime books, I have seen murder of all sorts: by gunshot, knife, bludgeoning, strangling, poisoning and hired contract.

I have seen murderers chop the arms off a victim who lived and murderers deceive everyone from parents to friends to lovers. But the depths of the depravity that Rodgers and Lawrence have shown are the worst I have ever seen and caused me to question some long-held beliefs about capital punishment. Even as these words are being written, the debate is still on whether the United States should continue to be the only Western country to endorse capital punishment.

It would be easy to make the argument that Rodgers and Lawrence should be executed for their crimes. Though it wouldn’t bring Jennifer or Justin back, it is clear to me that their families are looking forward to some sort of closure by that action. Experience, however, shows me that the families that do the best surviving after one of their own has been killed are the ones who actually let the idea of revenge go.

And yet, as I wrote this book and looked at the victims in death, and especially in life, I wavered in my conviction that the death penalty was wrong. If two bastards ever deserved to fry, it’s these guys. And yet …

There is no question of Jonathan Lawrence’s complicity in the murders and his depravity. But his neurological background clearly proves that his is a physically defective mind. It is exactly that problem that the Supreme Court has been wrestling with: do we put murderers like Jonathan Lawrence, severely damaged human beings, into the death chamber?

The Supreme Court has said no. I concur.

As for Jeremiah Rodgers, if in the account in this book it seems like I haven’t much feeling for him, I tried—I really did. He’s just not a very likable guy. Some murderers are; he is not. But he too comes from a damaged background. He too deserves the kind of mercy reserved for society’s damaged rejects.

I am just happy that I did not have to judge them. Maybe Diane Robinson has the right idea about that After Jenny’s death, she went to Graceland, Elvis’s home, to honor her daughter. She got a little bit of closure there. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Fred Rosen

November 2003

A Word About Sources

Nearly every word said by every person in this book is drawn directly from the individuals’ recollections. In cases where it wasn’t clear what the killers were doing or thinking at a given moment during the actual crimes, I have made a considered journalistic judgment based upon the facts of the case.

As with any homicide, there are sometimes different memories of the same event. In those cases, I have evaluated the competing claims and presented an account based on my judgment of what occurred.